Monarch butterfly

Postcard ID: RU-2858710
Country: Russia

Here is so wonderful butterfly from Russia. We watch "Under the Dome" series from time to time, so there are Monarch butterflies have great role :)

The monarch butterfly is a milkweed butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It may be the most familiar North American butterfly. Its wings feature an easily recognizable orange and black pattern, with a wingspan of 8.9–10.2 cm.

The eastern North American monarch population is notable for its southward late summer/autumn migration from the United States and southern Canada to Mexico, covering thousands of miles. The western North American population of monarchs west of the Rocky Mountains most often migrate to sites in California but have been found in overwintering Mexico sites. 

The name 'monarch' may be in honor of King William III of England. The monarch was originally described by Linnaeus in his Systema Naturae of 1758 and it was placed in the genus Papilio. In 1780, Jan Krzysztof Kluk used the monarch as the type species for a new genus

The monarch is the state insect of Alabama, Idaho, Illinois, Minnesota, Texas, Vermont, and West Virginia. It was nominated in 1990 as the national insect of the United States of America. but the legislation did not pass.